SICKBOY – INTO OBLIVION (CD by Mirex)
ACCELERA DECK – POP POLLING (CD by Scarcelight Recordings)
MY EDUCATION – ITALIAN (CD by Thirty Ghosts Records)
TZESNE – KRAKEN (LA LEYENDA) (CD by Series Negras)
MARTIN TETREAULT & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE – GRRR (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
BORIS HAUF – SOFT LEFT ONTO WESTLAND (CD by Mosz)
MERZBOW – RATTUS RATTUS (CD by Scarcelight Recordings)
TOOT – ONE (CD by Sofa)
YUMIKO TANAKA/IVAR GRYDELAND – CONTINENTAL CRUST (CD by Sofa)
FERRAN FAGES/ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO/RUTH BARBERAN – ISTMO (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
TETUZI AKIYAMA/JASON KAHN/UTAH KAWASAKI – AILACK (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
DENZLER/GUIONNET/KINOSHITA/UNAMI – VASISTAS (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
RHODRI DAVIES/ROBIN HAYWARD/JULIA ECKHARDT/LUCIO CAPECE – AMBER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
STEFAN KEUNE – SUNDAY SUNDAES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
WADE MATTHEWS – ASPIRATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
ALU – AUTISMENSCHEN (CD by C.I.P.)
MARTIN BLADH – UMBILICAL CORDS (CD by Segerhuva)
JARL – AKATISI/SOMNOLENS (CD by Tantric Harmonies)
ISLAJA – PALAA AURINKOON (CD by Fonal Records)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN/ROBERT LIPPOK – TESRI (CD by Monika Enterprises)
NIGHTSHIFT – NIGHSHIFT (CD by Antifrost)
DER MICHEL UND DER DOM (CD compilation by Gruen Rekorder)
IDROSCALO D’AUTORE DISCO COMPATTA NUMERO UNO (CD compilation by Idroscalo Dischi)
RED BRIDGE – (CD compilation by Risc Records)
BETAMAX FORMAT – XXX ROBOT/RAUS! RAUS! (7″ by Risc Records)
CHRIST. – SEEING AND DOING (CDEP by Benbecula Records)
P16.D4 – V.R.N.L. (LP by Was Soll Das? Schallplatten)
LIM – EMBRACING HUSH (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – DON’T NEED MORE SONGS TO CRY TO (MP3 by Con-V)
SICKBOY – INTO OBLIVION (CD by Mirex)
Geeez. Yes, my brain and scull start to melt while listening this album, tears in my eyes and such. It’s brilliant! Perfect and precise balance of breakcore beats, dub basses and a general atmosphere of sheer joy. Well, of a specific kind, so to say. At moments, this album leaves an impression as listening to jazz, and I mean this as a totally positive comment. Sickboy is aware of the time, the whole album’s about 30 minutes (great length for this music) and each of the 8 wonderful tracks is around 3-4 minutes. There’s enough diversity and the track’s order is well thought out, with the intro setting the atmosphere at the beginning, and a wonderful combination of digital hardcore breakbeats and atmospheres that follow afterwards. As good and with lots of pleasure as any better music by Venetian Snares, Kid606 or Xanopticon. One of the best albums this year, realistically speaking. (BR)
Address: http://www.c10cl12.com
ACCELERA DECK – POP POLLING (CD by Scarcelight Recordings)
The name Accelera Deck is around for many years now, and I must say I have been a keen follower of Chris Jeely, mainly because he knows how to put on truly diverse music: sometimes techno inspired, sometimes drone related guitar stuff and even some singer-songwriter like stuff. On ‘Pop Polling’, his eight full length album, on his own Scarcelight label he moves into a genre that hasn’t been explored by him before (or maybe without me being aware of it): that of glitch music. Since Jeely has always been a guitarist and that computer treatments are part of glitch music, it’s of course easy to compare this with Christian Fennesz, but it doesn’t justify the many talents of Chris Jeely. In the ten tracks captured on this CD, he cleverly balances on the edges of computerized sounds and guitar playing. In ‘Lips’ he derails with a lengthy guitar improvisation, but in general he knows how to keep a good balance between the two. The small melodies are glitchy and richly layered and reaches the glorious ambient spot in the closing ‘As Always’. With the diversity of his output it’s hard to say that this is his best, but it is nevertheless a great addition to an already varied output. (FdW)
Address: http://scarcelight.org
MY EDUCATION – ITALIAN (CD by Thirty Ghosts Records)
Listening to the new album by My Education is like being in a time machine. My Education is a six-piece group from Austin, Texas and includes members of Stars Of The Lid, Ultrasound and Cinders. Their instruments include drums, percussion, guitar, glockenspiel, lapsteel, viola, keyboards, bass and some vocals. If you know these bands you may have an idea what to expect. My Education plays music that is best described as post-rock, well or kraut-rock by modern standards. The lapsteel guitar adds a desolated feel to the proceedings, and the melodies are in general gentle, somewhat sombre and have a driving force with it’s continuously pounding drums. The influence of Mogwai or Godspeed is never far away, or at other times an vocal-less Legendary Pink Dots when they still had a violin player. My Education sound like many older releases of Kranky that haven’t been on the turntable for quite some time, so it’s good to hear this particular sound again. It’s well-done, but it’s at the same time also a bit out of date, this sound. Some people probably never can get enough, so it’s probably made for them. (FdW)
Address: http://www.thirtyghostsrecords.com
TZESNE – KRAKEN (LA LEYENDA) (CD by Series Negras)
A while ago, in Vital Weekly 461 I reviewed a CDR by Tzesne on Tib Prod, and mentioned that he released a CD on the Series Negras label, which I am now reviewing (although I don’t wish to make a hobby out of reviewing older stuff, I’ll make an exception). Just like on his Tib Prod release, Tzesne plays lenghty ambient pieces of an unknown origin. Still I can’t figure out wether these are field recordings or something that is actually played on ‘real’ instruments, such as analogue synthesizers. Upon hearing this a few times, I think it’s the first, although at the same time I also assume they are heavily processed by whatever means, probably they are digital and called computers. The two pieces here are foremost dark, atmospheric and ambient by any account. Slightly similar to say Lustmord, but without the depth thereof. It’s less noisy however than the Tib Prod release, and more refinement in approach, even when the sound is not always very detailed. A nice dark ambient work that should appeal to those who love the genre, but haven’t entirely switched off their industrial music days. A nice crossover between ambient and industrial. (FdW)
Address: http://www.proyectokraken.com
MARTIN TETREAULT & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE – GRRR (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
This is the second album documenting the tour of Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide, following ‘GRRR’ (reviewed in Vital Weekly 554), containing the more noisy elements. As promised then, ‘Tok’ contains the more fragmented stuff. Both gentleman play turntables here (again of course) and much of what I said on ‘Grrr’ can be said about this new disc: “I am altogether not very sure if this was a good idea. In a concert situation the two go in one concert from loud to fragmented to soft and back again. That makes the concert by Tetreault and Yoshihide to a breathtaking experience. But when they cut out, say all the noise elements of all concerts and isolate them on one CD, it’s a different thing. It may appeal to noise-fans alike, but for me it was simply too much. I rather had one CD documenting all the various aspects of duo, the best moments of every concert.” (FdW)
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
BORIS HAUF – SOFT LEFT ONTO WESTLAND (CD by Mosz)
The name Boris Hauf should ring a few bells here and there, for he is one active busy bee. Being a founding member of Efzeg, a part-time member of TV Pow, as-well as being a gifted saxophone improviser, he is also composing music for theatre, film, ensembles and solo players. Hauf uses no saxophone on his latest solo work, ‘Soft Left Onto Westland’, but pure electronic sounds and is as such not a very typical Boris Hauf CD. These electronic sounds move in various directions. Sometimes it’s downright soft and almost ambient, such as in ‘Gerry’, but on other occasions it becomes a strict minimalist techno affair or even electronic jazz in ‘Put The Man Back In Romance’. However, this doesn’t mean that this album is scattered all over the place: there is a strong homogeneity in the music, and the tracks are carefully placed over the album, making it into a highly enjoyable listening experience. A pretty strong album therefor and as this man is playing concerts a lot, I recommend anyone to catch him playing when in your neighborhood. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mosz.org
MERZBOW – RATTUS RATTUS (CD by Scarcelight Recordings)
Maybe it’s part of Merzbow’s esthetic to be on every label in the world, but maybe this just go as they go. Merzbow presents his album number-I-am-not-sure on Accelera Deck’s Scarcelight label and it has three tracks in about fifty minutes. They were recorded from 1999-2005, although me thinks he reworks some of his stuff in the digital realms, which is the way Merzbow does his recent material. Heavy treatments of analogue sounds by using many computer craziness, although it’s unclear what this craziness exists of. Of course I am not the most objective reviewer of Merzbow since I have pretty much everything that he ever did (without ever having the need to do a precise count), so I can imagine that for the average listener, this will sound like another Merzbowian noise attempt, and for the diehard (which are probably those who started reading this review anyway) fans, I can say that this is a good but pretty average Merzbow, not the best work to date, but yet a very effective one, and in it’s kind pretty much ok. (FdW)
Address: http://scarcelight.org
TOOT – ONE (CD by Sofa)
YUMIKO TANAKA/IVAR GRYDELAND – CONTINENTAL CRUST (CD by Sofa)
Another new label with improvised music, new at least to me. Vocalist Phil Minton, Axel Dörner on trumpet and Thomas Lehn on analogue synth have been working as Toot since the late 90s but ‘One’ is, with such a title no surprise, their first CD. The four tracks on this CD were recorded in 2003, most possibly to a stereo tape, but afterwards there has been some editing by Lehn and Dörner. All three gentleman belong to the absolute finest in improvised in Europe, having played with almost anyone on the scene. The four captured live moments here show these qualities very well. Each piece is a highly dynamic affair, ranging from the subtle moments with lots of silence (which seem to be in a majority here) to more louder and upfront outbursts of energy. Certainly not ‘easy’ stuff, since whatever they do is beyond any form of traditional playing and requiresd ones full attention. But it will be rewarded by the beauty of itrequires.
The other new release on Sofa is by Yumiko Tanaka who plays an Asian fret-less banjo/lute and Norway’s acoustic guitarist Ivar Grydeland. This five track CD is entirely different from the Toot one: it’s all acoustic playing, carefully strumming of single notes, or playing them with objects. The fret-less banjo gives the whole thing an oriental feel to the music, added by the voice of Tanaka in the fifth piece. Although this is nice music, it’s not as exciting as the Toot release. Things stay rather on similar grounds throughout this CD and somehow there is not too much tension between the players. It’s a bit folk like and it’s alright, but nothing more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sofamusic.no
FERRAN FAGES/ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO/RUTH BARBERAN – ISTMO (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
TETUZI AKIYAMA/JASON KAHN/UTAH KAWASAKI – AILACK (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
DENZLER/GUIONNET/KINOSHITA/UNAMI – VASISTAS (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
RHODRI DAVIES/ROBIN HAYWARD/JULIA ECKHARDT/LUCIO CAPECE – AMBER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
STEFAN KEUNE – SUNDAY SUNDAES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
WADE MATTHEWS – ASPIRATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
No less than six new releases on the Creative Sources label, placing the label right in the
centre of improvised music. The first release is by Ferran Fages (acoustic turntable), Alfredo Costa Monteiro (accordion) and Ruth Barberan on trumpet. The latter plays her instrument as is common these days – say the Axel Dörner method, the instrument as an object. The accordion is played conventionally, well more or less that is. In two lenghty pieces, both recorded late 2003, this trio improvises through a somewhat noise related set of music, even in the more silent parts of the music. There is some intense playing going on, that is quite demanding for the listener, as well as for the performers I guess. Scratchy, noisy and intense. Nice work.
East meets west on the disc of Tetuzi Akiyama (tape-delayed electric guitar), Jason Kahn (analogue synthesizer and percussion) and Utah Kawasaki (dismantled roland synthesizer and cell phone). Their concert was captured in 2004 in Japan and displays the individual qualities quite nice. It’s less silent than I would have expected, and throughout the sound is audible or maybe even a bit more noisy than I expected. There is a sort of continuous backdrop in the music from the ongoing feedback and synthesizer sounds over which loose sounds from the guitar and assorted percussion can be heard. This too is an intense listening experience.
With one more person things become onkyo right away. Bertrand Denzler (tenor saxophone), Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto saxophone), Kazushige Kinoshita (violin) and Taku Unami (laptop, guitar) recorded their quartet in London in september 2003. This full hour breathes silence all over. An occasional blow, a scratch here and there. Whereas the first two are intense playing and require listening, this is one step further: if you pay only a little attention, it might seem that nothing is happening at all. Here one needs to crank up the volume and a full 100% attention before it will unfold it’s beauty. If the listener is not prepared to do this, it will be pointless to play this CD. I think it’s beautiful, but very very demanding.
In a totally acoustic vein in the release by Rhodri Davies (harp), Robin Hayward (tuba), Julia Eckhardt (viola) and Lucio Capece (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone). The recordings here are studio recordings, which can be heard, the quality is much better than on a live recording, and it seems to me the whole thing is mixed with great care. The four instruments make two strong pieces of blowing, rubbing and scratching. The instruments are mostly played as objects here, and none of the instruments takes the lead. It’s a beautiful interplay of a great variety of sound possibilities and each player uses his instrument with great skill and to a great extent. Towards the end of the first there is a strong crescendo in the use of feedback, which adds extra tonal qualities to the music. After the previous CD an almost easy listening work.
The final two releases are solo CDs of improvising musicians. I can be short about the one from Stefan Keune, who plays sopranino and alto saxophone. No doubt he does a fine job playing these instruments, but the eleven pieces were not spent at all on me. I am not a particular great lover of the sound of the saxophone, only when it’s played as an object, as proven on some of these other new Creative Sources releases. So I skip here.
The final CD is by Wade Matthews, who plays bass clarinet and alto flute. All of these pieces were recorded in one go, with the microphone close to the instruments. Matthews treats his instruments as objects as well as a real instrument, and comes close to sound-poetry when it comes to the first. Although I thought that this CD was much more interesting than the Keune disc, I must also say that the tension that is apparent in the other CDs is sadly lacking here. Maybe the improvisation needs the interaction between various players more than it does need just one person. But nevertheless his disc is not bad at all. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creativesourcesrec.com
ALU – AUTISMENSCHEN (CD by C.I.P.)
No need to be ashamed if you have never heard of Alu, a German trio, that came from the band Sand. Their ‘Golem’ LP was one of the classic krautrock records of the seventies and later on released by World Serpent on CD. After Sand broke up, Johannes Vester and Ludwig Papenberg formed Alu, sometimes together with Nadja on vocals. They released two LPs, one 7″ and two cassettes, in the period 1981-1985. I remember owning one of the LPs and the 7″ (don’t know why not anymore, but that’s a different story), which had a strong rhythm-box, synth, guitar and vocals, all in a pretty raw fashion – world’s apart from the Sand sound. ‘Autismenschen’ is not a re-issue of any of the old stuff, but rather the first LP that was never released, from 1981, except for two tracks, ‘Bitte Warten Sie’ and ‘Liebe Machen’ (which is a cover of ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’ from Willie Dixon), which are now included on this CD too of course. In recent years there have been many young musicians working in ‘electro’ music, the synth-rhythmbox stuff from the eighties, but you may call me a retro freak, I prefer the old stuff, like Alu, or The Screamers or Suicide, with whom Alu has in common that they both combined the speed and energy of the punk rock, combined with analogue synthesizer stuff. Some of the more lengthy pieces, such as ‘Halt Dich Fest’ sound, with lenghty guitar doodlings show their krautrock background, but Alu is at their best in their shorter pieces: a screamy voice, full of doomsday paranoia, a continuous rhythm-box, simple melodies on the organ and guitar in a distorted mood. The real stuff that can’t be beaten by a groove-box and microphone. The best re-discovery of 2005! (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net
MARTIN BLADH – UMBILICAL CORDS (CD by Segerhuva)
JARL – AKATISI/SOMNOLENS (CD by Tantric Harmonies)
Martin Bladh is a member of IRM and Skin Area, both groups which I don’t know. On his first solo release he plays cymbals, string instruments, accordion and bass. The cover is has quotes by Viennese actionist Rudolf Schwarzkogler and Antonin Artaud, so for one reason or the other I was thinking that this might be a heavy release. But I am totally proven wrong as Martin Bladh plays some wonderful drone music. Unlike some of the contemporary drone artists as Mirror, Ora or Jonathan Coleclough, Bladh’s drones are much more heavy in approach. His sound is a very present one, one that doesn’t lull the listener into a nighty night, but keeps him awake and full of tension. The music is very detailed, not blurry, which is another difference. The only thing that sprang to this mind to compare it with, is the first few records by Organum, in particular ‘In Extremis’. It has that same somewhat aggressive, present sound, working in the areas of overtones. A well-done debut! Recommended to Organum fans and drone lovers in general.
Another member of IRM is Erik Jarl. He already released a solo CD on Segerhuva, ‘Parallel/Collapsing’ (see Vital Weekly 401) and now has a new work, for the Russian Tantric Harmonies label. On the cover it says, he works with ‘electronic and acoustic sound’, which he treats by means of mixing boards and sound effects – probably, most likely. Like Martin Bladh his CD is drone related, but it works in a different way. The sounds are less natural and more electronically generated, and also a bit more rhythmical. The darker and almost claustrophobic nature of his sounds make this is into a typical ambient industrial release, which is not bad, but doesn’t necessarily stand out among the rest.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.segerhuva.se
Address: http://www.pretentious.net/tantricharmonies
ISLAJA – PALAA AURINKOON (CD by Fonal Records)
Following Lau Nau and Pastacas, this is the third CD in a short time span to come from Finland, playing modern folk music. Islaja plays guitar, sings, plays wind-instruments, some keyboards and some more. Like I was already saying, this is not music that I play a lot, but I do like it. The intimate singing, which is actually more singing than some singer-songwriters would do, the loose playing which almost sounds like improvising and the melancholic tunes add to quite a nice album. Of course the lyrics don’t mean anything, unless your Finnish is really good, but probably they are about love lost and children’s tunes. Islaja’s music is even more sparse than Lau Nau’s or Pastacas, with less instruments, but in all this simplicity it is a great album of twenty-first century folk songs. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fonal.com
BARBARA MORGENSTERN/ROBERT LIPPOK – TESRI (CD by Monika Enterprises)
The names of Barbara Morgenstern and Robert Lippok don’t pop up in Vital Weekly a lot, but maybe that’s because they are too well-known. Lippock is part of To Rococo Rot (followed in the early days of their career in these pages) and Morgenstern is foremost known as singer and keyboard player in her own right. Lippok and Morgenstern released a mini album before on Domino’s Series 500, and between 2002 and 2004 they worked on this album, which includes a load of guest-players. The twelve tracks captured here display a great love of small melodies, guitars tinkling, piano playing, occasional singing, easy going beats and small bits of computer processing and together they create a highly intimate atmosphere, that makes the listener feel very comfortable, well, at least this one. Colorful music, intimate and sweet, all with a poppy touch. Great stuff indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.m-enterprise.de
NIGHTSHIFT – NIGHSHIFT (CD by Antifrost)
‘Nightshift’ by Nighshift is the debut album by a new duo of AS11 (who have a couple of solo releases on Antifrost) and Thodoris Zioutos, an electronic improvisation musician from Athens. They use a bunch of field recordings and electronic processing thereof in a strict minimal and droney way. They put one stroke of sound in the machine and start transforming it. Sometimes the paint is thin (softer moments) and sometimes the paint is thick (loud). Although it was an alright release, I must also say that I thought it was rather a bit too normal, too standard sort of sound processing going on, the shift from loud to soft and back, it all sounded a bit ‘tired’, a well-walked path. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr
DER MICHEL UND DER DOM (CD compilation by Gruen Rekorder)
This compilation deals with field recordings made in Hamburg, Germany and connects a church (the St. Michaelis) and a funfair, the ‘Hamburger Dom’. These field recordings were handed out to ten different artists with the question to ‘rework and remix’ these recordings into something new. From the ten artists I only recognized a few, like Philip Samartzis (whom is the only non-German, I think), Asmus Tietchens, Stefan Funk, Gregory Büttner and Suspicion Breeds Confidence. As can be imagined there are a lot of church bells and treated church organ sounds on this recordings, and it seems to me that the funfair sounds are treated beyond recognition. In Hans Schüttler’s piece there is a straight cut back and forth between the two places: people chanting anprocessing’sd voices from the funfair. Martin Moritz makes ultra short loops from the material, and presents an almost gabber piece. Most other pieces are gentle processing’s of the offered field recordings, which are all nice but there is no standout piece either. The nice thing is that the original field recordings are also on this disc, so anyone with some spare time can do their own remix. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
IDROSCALO D’AUTORE DISCO COMPATTA NUMERO UNO (CD compilation by Idroscalo Dischi)
This is a most curious compilation. The artists are listed in alfabetical order and this doesn’t represent the order of the CD – one has to guess who does what here. “Our main goal is to exceed the contrast between pop music, accademic [sic] music and avant-garde music, each one being bound to a specific purpose: to entertain, to be intellectual and to scandalize. We propose to explore unusual musical worlds, considering music as a sound experience, devoid of any sterile accdemical [sic] technicality or modern technology and computer skills”. Artists included are Anofele, Anton Nikkila, Domenico Scianjo, David Karpenter, Fabio Gionfrida, Kar, Justin Bennett, Mas, Maurizio Martusciello, Nihil, Noitz, Resina and Tirriddiliu. Some of these artists have been reviewed before in Vital Weekly, some are new to me. I must firstly say I quite enjoy the compilation as such, but at the same time it doesn’t hold up its intentions as outlines above. The music is rather not unusual, but maybe it’s because my ears are trained to hear such unusual sounds. The thirteen tracks are all rather microsounding like, with lots of crackles, feedback, loops and low end sounds. Nice stuff, even when I couldn’t guess who did what here. Very puzzling indeed. But looking forward to a second volume, and maybe that has more contrast between pop, academic and avant-garde. (FdW)
Address: http://idroscalo.widerstand.org
RED BRIDGE – (CD compilation by Risc Records)
BETAMAX FORMAT – XXX ROBOT/RAUS! RAUS! (7″ by Risc Records)
Ireland is not exactly the first place to think of experimental music, but also certainly not the last. Roger Doyle is still world famous and he has released a compilation in the past with other young composers. ‘Red Bridge’ is a like but different: also young artists but from the wide world of pop and electronic music. If you were looking for a compilation with some homogeneity than this is the wrong place. This CD has noise (by Tremors), electronic poptunes by (Betamax Format, Northstation postrock (Thread Pulls), ambient (Agitated Radio Pilot, see also Vital Weekly 464), shoegazing dance music by Amoebazoid and field recordings by Lakker. And then we would forget the folky tune by Miriam Ingram or the krauty piece of E+S=B and all the others. It will be difficult to sell this CD to one particular audience, if an audience exists for ‘nice music from one country’. It serves however as a nice introduction to alternative leftfield music from Ireland and a good opportunity to catch up with new names.
On the same label is also a 7″ by Betamax Format. The a-side has a driving rhythm section, distorted guitar that could be progressive rock sounding but played with the intention of punkrock. Up-tempo punk induced electronica, well or some such. The b-side is more down-tempo with likewise heavy guitars. Nice songs, but not necessarily top 40 stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.riscrecords.com
CHRIST. – SEEING AND DOING (CDEP by Benbecula Records)
With the pope being dead, Christ. is alive. I have no idea who is being Christ. but I bet it’s not the almighty himself. Christ. has two previous release on Benbecula Records which I haven’t heard before and ‘Seeing And Doing’ is his third release, coming in the form of a CDEP. The five tracks on this release are all slightly connected to the world of intelligent dance music, but have moved out of it by using lenghty intro’s which show an interest in ambient and glitch music, or stay out of the techno, such as in ‘Magic Piano’. The music is rather down tempo, introvert and melancholic. Nice, though nothing special, I think. For those who love Expanding Records and some such labels. (FdW)
Address: http://www.benbecula.com
P16.D4 – V.R.N.L. (LP by Was Soll Das? Schallplatten)
In the ever ongoing quest for historical records, Was Soll Das? Schallplatten now re-releases the second P16.D4 tape from 1981 on vinyl. P16.D4 were in the eighties the group of Ralf Wehowsky, who combined musique concrete and industrial music in an intelligent way, but that was after the release of ‘V.R.N.L.’ (meaning ‘von rechts nach links’, ie ‘from right to left’), which marked the end of the first phase of P16.D4. Here they are still a four piece group, of bass, guitar, tapes, drums, vocals, saxophone and synthesizer, and each member changes instruments. Elements of free improvised music and free jazz in combination with the spirit of free-punk, remember this is still 1981 recordings, makes this into quite a raw statement of music. Everything was free so to speak. This is music from the area when being a ‘non-musician’ was important, but before the arrival of many complicated and cheap electronic musical devices, so the non-musicians were still playing ‘real’ instruments. Another classic re-issue, the picture is nearing it’s completion. (FdW)
Address: http://www.wsdp.de
LIM – EMBRACING HUSH (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
As I’ve mentioned sometime before writing about Scarcelight releases, this label is interested in the noisy aspects in music. That’s more noise-related than harsh-noise, to note the difference. In this case, Lim is totally ambient and also totally in the best traditions of that music, as Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach etc… Nice and calm flowing atmospheres, maybe the only harsher moment appears only for a second in the 2nd of all 4 tracks on this EP. However, the ambient atmosphere becomes a little bit more harsher at the end again, but with all the stifled and deafen noises which are totally in the background, it’s still 100% nice ambient music. (BR)
Address: http://scarcelight.org
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – DON’T NEED MORE SONGS TO CRY TO (MP3 by Con-V)
Behind the strange moniker Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words is one Thomas Ekelund, who has released a couple of works before on his own Fukk God Lets Create label, Ideal and Dreamland (see Vital Weekly 407 for instance) and who is also a member of Normal Music, Dead+Hurt and Winquist/Virtanen. This new release on Con-V is his first online release in four years I’m told, and it starts out with some highly concrete sounds, which, as the piece moves on, fades over in some highly dense layers of likewise highly obscure sounds. These sounds do remind me of cars passing along a highway, but heard when the listener is asleep, highly blurred I’d say. Whereas as his previous work on Ideal Recordings was more Brian Eno meeting Christian Fennesz, this is more Eno on a lazy thursday afternoon – not the easiness by which this was made, but the gentle passing of time via ambient music. Not surprising, but nice for sure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org